Yuan rises, but sentiment shifts

China's RMB has continued to strengthen against the US dollar since the end of October. But on Wednesday, the yuan failed to hit the upper daily limit of one percent.

China's yuan keeps rising. The central bank fixed yuan's midpoint against the US dollar 18 basis points higher at 6.2908 on Wednesday. On the spot market, the Chinese currency traded as high as 6.2286. But it hovered below its upper daily limit.

The yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 1 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

Cui Haitao, trader of Department of Financial Market, Bank of China, said, "The mild rebound of the greenback was due to two reasons. For one thing, investors increased their dollar positions today. For another, as no consensus was reached on Greece's rescue fund, markets were disappointed, driving down the euro and pushing up the US dollar."

As of Tuesday, the RMB had hit the upper limit 15 times out of 16 trading sessions. Analysts say that's mainly because domestic corporates heavily sold the dollar on hopes of yuan strengthening.

But their expectation is different now as the yuan's midpoint is stabilizing at around 6.3. Analysts now say, a dramatic appreciation in the Chinese currency is now unlikely.